SNL icon Kate McKinnon slams Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill: ‘I am deeply gay’
Kate McKinnon discusses how she feels about Florida lawmakers passing the “Don’t Say Gay” bill during SNL’s Weekend Update. (YouTube/Saturday Night Live)
Kate McKinnon has viciously ripped apart Florida’s reviled “Don’t Say Gay” bill in a searing skit on Saturday Night Live (SNL).
McKinnon, who is openly gay, spoke out against Florida’s House Bill (HB 1557) which would ban discussions about sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms. The proposed legislation passed through the state’s House in February and is on its way to the Senate for debate.
McKinnon jokingly praised the “amazing” bill for banning people from using the word “gay” in an offensive way during an appearance on SNL‘s Weekend Update segment.
She then shared a story about how she was “tortured by the constant use of the word ‘gay'” and made to feel “horrible” about herself while attending school in the 90s.
“When I was in middle school in the 90s, I was kind of, like, tortured by the constant use of the word ‘gay’ – like ‘that’s so gay’ or ‘ew, you’re gay’,” McKinnon said. “It made me feel so horrible.”
She continued: “So, to hear that Ron DeSantis has taken a stand and said, ‘No! You cannot say ‘gay’ in school anymore!’
“I’m so jazzed. And in Florida of all places!”
However, Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost quickly corrected McKinnon’s “misunderstanding” of the controversial bill and explained the law “actually means that you can’t acknowledge that gay exists at all”.
“So teachers can’t speak about gay people in history or if a kid has a gay family member,” Jost said. “And if a kid confides that they’re gay to a teacher, the teacher has to out them to their parents.”
McKinnon was seemingly left speechless after Jost’s explanation and kept repeating “what?!” as her SNL castmate talked about the bill.
But she quickly recovered and began to mock the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by purposefully saying mentioning the LGBT+ community as much as she could.
“I am deeply gay — sorry, concerned, deeply concerned,” McKinnon said.
“It just feels like this is gonna make kids gay and trans — sorry, depressed and suicidal — and I think these laws are lesbians – sorry, unconscionable, unconscionable.”
Kate McKinnon questioned the purpose of the “Don’t Say Gay” law before closing the sketch with a wonderful musical number.
“Look, Colin, if the 90s were right, and ‘gay’ means bad, then this is the gayest law I have ever seen,” McKinnon said. “So kids, listen up, if you can’t say it you might as well sing it.”
McKinnon then encouraged the audience to sing “gay, gay, gay” to the tune of Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water”, which was just everything.
